Monks of Santo Domingo de Silos to open museum on monastic life

Madrid, Spain, Aug 31, 2006 / 12:00 am (CNA).- The famous Benedictine Abbey of Santo Domingo de Silos has announced it will open a museum on monasticism at the centuries-old convent of St. Francis, in order to promote monastic life in contemporary society.

The abbot of Silos, Clemente Serna, told the EFE news agency a permanent exhibit would be ready for the museum’s opening in the convent’s cloister in order to present “the historical and spiritual itinerary of monasticism, especially that of the west,” in an attractive and easily understood way.

The museum, which is expected to open in 2008 or 2009, will also include exhibits on Buddhist, Hindu, and other Eastern monastic traditions. Abbot Serna acknowledged that “it will be difficult for many people to understand what monks have in common, no matter what our religion might be, because we leave everything apparently in exchange for nothing, although the key is that we strive to be ourselves.”

The monks of Silos also plan to turn a section of the Convent of St. Francis—which has long been decommissioned--into a center of religious thought and reflection for analyzing “the worries of the global society from diverse points of view.”